Policy MemberCensureProbationTermination

Members that violate Freeside policies, rules, or the code of conduct may be subject to disciplinary action by Officers and/or the Board of Directors, which may affect their membership status, rights, and privileges.

A Freeside policy may be written to include specific outcomes to violations of that policy. For example, the Past Due Membership Process outlines how membership rights and privileges are revoked over time for non-payment of membership dues, as well as ways to restore those rights and privileges. Another example is how the Drug and Alcohol Policy calls for the expulsion and termination of members that serve alcohol to minors.

In general, this policy seeks to assign responsibilities for disciplinary action against members, as well as describe the burden of proof and the process by which membership status transitions and how member rights, privileges are revoked and restored.

Definitions

Censure - an official statement by the Freeside leadership that informs a member that they are in violation of policies, rules, or the code of conduct.

Good Standing - a state of membership, in which a member meets the obligations of membership. These obligations are defined by the Freeside by-laws.

Probation - a state of membership where the member has some or all member rights and privileges revoked as defined by censure on record.

Termination - the act of removing an individual from Freeside membership, by Freeside leadership, voluntary resignation, or as defined in specific policies.

Responsibilities

It is the responsibility of the Officers to censure individual members for violating policy, rules, or the code of conduct. Officers are responsible for reporting each censure at the following Board of Directors meeting. Officers are responsible for keeping a record of each censure.

It is the responsibility of the Board of Directors to place a member into probationary status, either automatically by the terms and conditions of approved policy, or via decision by majority vote. In the case of automatic placement, it is the responsibility of the Officers to properly record the violation(s), and to report the event to the Board of Directors.

It is the responsibility of the Board of Directors to terminate a member, either automatically by the terms and conditions of approved policy, or via decision by majority vote. It is the responsibility of the Board of Directors to record the violation(s).

It is the responsibility of the Officers to carry out the terms of approved policy, to revoke the member’s privileges as applicable.

It is the responsibility and discretion of the Treasurer to reconcile or pursue outstanding balances for members that elect to terminate.

Burden of Proof

Censure is at the discretion of each Officer. A statement of censure, by definition, must specify cause and state the specific violation of policy, rules, or code of conduct.

A member may be put into probationary status automatically, by the terms and conditions of approved policy. The violation(s) are recorded and reported to the Board of Directors.

There are situations that can occur that merit placing a member into probationary status, but for which there is no current policy that covers the violation(s), or for which it is impossible to write and approve a policy that covers the situation. In these cases, the Board of Directors must record the violations and take a majority vote to place a member into probation.

The same burden of proof applies to the termination of a member. The only difference is that the Board of Directors record the violation(s) that led to the member termination.

A history of censure is sufficient in whole or in part as burden of proof for placing a member in probation or terminating a membership.

Appeals

A member may appeal any censure to the Board of Directors. A censure may be expunged by majority vote of the Board of Directors.

A member may appeal probationary status to the Board of Directors. A member can be removed from probation by majority vote of the Board of Directors.

There is no appeal for termination. A member must reapply for membership.

Member Resignation

A member may terminate their Freeside membership at any time, by notifying an Officer, in writing (the resignation).

The member has until the end of the month in which they resign to clear out their property from the space. After the end of the month, any remaining property is forfeit to Freeside.

Examples

A member has repeatedly taken materials and parts out of Freeside for personal projects, without really returning anything back to the space. Officers dealt with the situation by verbal warnings first, but then the problem continued, so Officers started to censure the member. After report(s) to the Board of Directors, the Board votes to revoke the member’s access to member storage, and revoke member access to IT infrastructure (Linux accounts). The Treasurer as Officer and acting head of IT revokes access to the services (or the Treasurer may instruct one of the IT staff to do this) . The member still has voting rights, and 24/7 access to other areas of the space - and the probationary period is set to one month. The behavior stops and the member’s full access is restored the following month (as defined by censure). The Treasurer directs the IT staff to restore access to Freeside services, per the Board’s instructions.